White Sox Minor League Update: July 8, 2021

Top levels cruise, lower levels snooze or are suspended due to rain, as they say

Box score link game 1

The Knights only needed five hits over the seven innings of Doubleheader Game One on Thursday, downing the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 4-2. Blake Rutherford set off some fireworks, as the DH went 2-for-4 with a two-run dong in the first; this is good to see from the former top prospect, as after his hot start to the season, he’s batting .165/.207/.247 over the last month. Rutherford also hit a pop-up single to score a run. Nate Nolan drove in the other Knights run on his first double of the season.

Jonathan Stiever had a vintage start, his five innings of two-run ball much better than the numbers he’s been putting up over the last month or so, although he was still burned again by the long ball. Stiever allowed eight home runs in 19 ⅓ innings over four starts from June 12 to July 1, putting up a 7.91 ERA in that time. Here, though, it was just one, and it was a solo shot, minimizing the damage. Stiever also struck out five while walking one and scattering four hits.

Meanwhile, the Kodi Medeiros Bullpen Renaissance continues unabated — he’s allowed runs in just four of his 17 appearances this season. Nik Turley has pitched similarly well, adding a scoreless inning of his own; of his 20 appearances, he’s allowed runs in four of them (and in two, they were unearned). Entering this game, Turley had thrown 18 ⅔ innings, with eight walks, 29 strikeouts, and three earned runs allowed (two home runs).

Box score link game 2

It was a doubleheader sweep as the Knights again scored four runs to broil the Jumbo Shrimp. Zach Remillard hit a home run on the third pitch of the game, Nick Williams hit a game-tying double in the fourth inning, and Ti’Quan Forbes sealed it in the sixth (a doubleheader eighth) with a sacrifice fly to score Matt Reynolds. Remillard went 2-for-3 and Williams had three hits, two doubles. He also stole a base, as did Luis González.

Jimmy Lambert was perfectly serviceable over five innings, allowing three runs, and the bullpen put up some good work on the back end — Hunter Schryver, Danny Dopico, and Zack Burdi combined for two scoreless innings to wrap it up.

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This one was not particularly close, got a little bit closer, and then was not close at all as the Barons led 5-0, 5-2, and eventually 12-2 as they, uh, shucked? Biloxi? In any event, Kade McClure pitched very well, and by giving up two runs over five innings today, has now given up two runs over his last 15 innings. He walked zero. Luis Ledo, who is probably very scary to bat against because he throws 99 mph and often has no idea where it’s going, broke a string of four straight appearances allowing a run; the only runner he let on base was from a walk, and he struck out three over two innings. Andrew Perez and Peter Tago finished it up with no trouble.

It was a good day at the plate for pretty much everyone; each Baron had at least one hit and all but Zack Granite scored a run. Micker Adolfo hit a two-run bomb in the fifth, his 13th of the year, and Craig Dedelow hit a three-run bomb also in the fifth, his seventh. Dedelow also doubled, as did Jameson Fisher, and JJ Muno hit a triple and stole a base. Carlos Pérez and Romy González had two hits apiece and Laz Rivera drove in a run. The Barons still have the best record of any Sox minor league team, at 30-26.

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The Dash blew the hell out of a wild one in the ninth. Taylor Varnell had his worst start of the season, probably because I spent a whole paragraph saying nice things about him over at FutureSox today; he allowed four runs for the first time all season, all four coming in the second inning as the Crawdads went walk, single, single, single, double to open the frame. Varnell also threw a wild pitch and set a season high in walks with four; of his 82 pitches, just 47 were strikes. Even so, this only raised his ERA to 2.47 and WHIP to 1.04 in 51 innings this year. Edgar Navarro threw two scoreless innings in relief.

Despite the shaky start from the usually reliable Varnell, the Dash slowly clawed their way back from the 4-0 hole until they took a 6-4 lead in the sixth inning. In the third, Lenyn Sosa scored on Yoelqui Céspedes’ fifth double. In the fourth, back-to-back doubles by Duke Ellis and Lázaro Leal added up to a run, and in the fifth, Yolbert Sánchez helped move things along by singling and stealing second base so he could score on Alex Destino’s double.

Then in the sixth, after a leadoff strikeout by Travis Moniot, Duke Ellis bunt singled and didn’t even have add to his hefty stolen base total (19) to get to second on a balk. He scored on Leal’s single, and Leal moved to third when Kleyder Sánchez doubled. Lenyn Sosa flicked a single to score them both; after he was caught stealing, Céspedes hit his sixth double, then stole third base. The inning might have continued, but according to the home plate umpire, Yolbert Sánchez took too long to get in the box on a 1-2 count and had an automatic strike three called on him to end the threat. Manager Ryan Newman was tossed arguing, Sánchez was immediately pulled, and Brandon Bossard, who is apparently now in Winston-Salem after debuting in Kannapolis, took his place. Baseball, cruel mistress, etc.

Crueler still was the ninth inning, Brian Glowicki pitching with a 6-4 lead after ably handling the eighth. In the span of six batters, he allowed a natural cycle — leadoff single, double, fly out, triple, strikeout, home run — and suddenly, the Crawdads were up 8-6. The Dash got one back in the bottom of the inning when Destino homered, but couldn’t make it up. This one has to sting.

Kannapolis was rained into a suspension in the first inning, which is a shame because they were leading 3-0. They will try to hold onto that lead tomorrow.

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The ACL Sox lost the seventh game of the year, in seven innings, to dip below .500. Matthew Thompson is down with them from Kannapolis on a rehab assignment and went two innings today, his first appearance since June 12. It was enough time to allow two runs and get the loss, though, although Cristian Mena gave up four runs after him in just 2 ⅔ innings. This was the 18-year-old Mena’s second appearance after a very solid start on July 2 in which he threw five innings of one-run ball, walking none and striking out eight. Bryce Hutchinson, a late-May free agent signing, allowed a solo home run in his inning of work, and Hunter Speer, signed at the end of June, gave up only a walk in 1 ⅓ innings.

Wilbert Sanchez made pretty much all of the ACL Sox offensive noise by himself, going 3-for-3 with a leadoff double and walking once, squeezing in a bases-juiced run. Age 19 and in his second season of pro ball with the Sox, he’s 8-for-20 over the first five games of the ACL season. The team scored their second run with two outs in the sixth, when Logan Glass tripled and Johnabiell Laureano singled him in.